All That Jazz
Inspired by All That Jazz from Chicago

Leavin' her was the worst thing I coulda done. Sure, I believed what I told her at the time, but after a while I realized that none of the girls I hooked up with were her

They were all too tall or too pale or didn't smile right. Didn't really matter what they did, they weren't Hoshi and they never would be. It's really too bad it took me six months to figure this out.

There was always part of me that was goin' stir crazy without that engine to tinker with, but now my whole body is stir crazy 'cause she isn't here, no little laughs, paranoid fears to poke fun at later on, nothin'. Just me and momma and my sister when she pops over.

"Back again Charlie?" Susie asks from behind the bar. I just shoot her a smile. "I heard they're docking in a week."

"Who's dockin'?" I ask her as I take the beer from her.

"Enterprise," she replies casually as she leans on the bar top.

"New engineer couldn't keep things together or something. Like I said, I heard."

I felt the heat rise in my face. Some one was mistreating my engines to the point where they had to send Enterprise back to space dock.

That thought quickly flew out of my head and was replaced with 'Hoshi's coming home'.

"A week ya say?" I ask.

"What I heard, Charlie," she says. "Don't let her go this time, I'm losing customers 'cause they don't meet your standards."

How the hell does she know about Hoshi? Doesn't matter, I guess, Susie has always known these things about everybody that comes in here. I finish the beer quickly and drop some credit on the bar for her with a note scribbled on a napkin to let me know if she hears when they do dock, though I have a feelin' it'll be all over the news anyways.

I take the long way home, partly to help clear my head and also to work up a plan. Don't want to look desperate, but don't want to be too cool, either.

Of course, we're not gonna be able to just pick up where we left off . . . Hmmmm . . . Lot of variables here . . . . I think I'm gonna have to sleep on this one. Maybe for a few nights. So, here they are, back on Earth and I have yet to track her down. Jon got to me first, then Malcolm and now Starfleet's tyin' up my phone lines trying to get me to come back.

"Momma, I'm not home unless she calls," I say as I walk past the comm system that was goin' off again. She sighs and rolls her eyes as she wipes her flour-covered hands off on her apron before answering it.

"Well, speak o' the devil," she says as she stands up and goes back to the counter. I gulp a little, the snack I was workin' on forgotten on the counter.

"Hey, long time to see," I tell her as I slide into the chair.

"So, did you really leave to find a girl or because you hated me?" she asks with a smile.

"Sorry. Jon, Malcolm and Starfleet kinda got to me before I could get to a comm system," I said. "So how ya been?" I ask. This is nice, maybe we can just go back to the way things were. Nice and friendly, lots of jokes.

"Hey, you wanna have dinner? I'm in Florida another couple of nights until I fly home to my parents' place," she says.

"I'd love to. Name the time and place." She does. Bob's at 7 tonight. Bob's is a nice little Greek place not far from where I am.

"Don't loose 'er this time darlin'. I'd like to at least know there are some grandkids coming from you before I die," Momma says after we're done making plans.

"Sure thing momma," I shoot back as I head back to the snack I had started earlier. "Mr. Tucker, you're looking very spiffy," she says as we meet later that night. I smile a little as I take her in.

"Not to shabby yerself darlin'," I tell her as I offer an arm like every good gentleman should. She takes it with a smile and we start to catch up again.

A large meal and several glasses of ouzo later, we decided to head off somewhere else. Well, that and the fact that Bob wanted to close up and we were the only ones left in the restaurant.

"How about here?" she asks as we stop in front of this club with jazz music blarin' and trumpets wailing.

"You sure?" I ask. Never would have guessed she'd pick a place like this.

"Come on," she said with a smile that lights up her face as she takes my hand and starts to pull me towards the door. I laugh and follow her in.

"Ladies and gentlemen, a real classic to get the blood flowin'," a man said up on the stage just after we got in. "So wear your stockings down and all that jazz," he finishes as the band starts.

Now I remember hearin' this song when I was a kid while Lizzy was goin' through her Broadway music stage. She played this song everyday, all the time for about three days straight, and apparently I still knew all the words 'cause they just kinda came tumblin' out when it started.

Hoshi starts to laugh at me when I start talking about "Rouging my knees" and "Wearing my stockings down". I thought she was gonna cry when I get to the part about "Shimmy til her garters break" and "Show her where to park her girdle".

By the time we left, we were both a little drunker, a little sweatier and a lot more comfortable with each other. We decided it would be best for her just to stay at my place for the night and I'd get her home in the morning.

"How far are we from the ocean?" she asks. Her and the damned sense of hearing.

"Couple of miles I guess. Why?"

"Let's go," she answers as she drags me off again. She makes me wade in the water with her when we get there and I drag her out when she just about makes us both fall in.

"Come on, we're too drunk to do this," I answer with a laugh as I help her get her balance again. She laughs and follows me out and this time we do fall to the ground. We lay on our backs for a moment, catchin' our breath and she laughs a little longer.

"I haven't done this in a while," she smiles as she turns to look at me.

"What? Roll around drunk on a beach with a very attractive man?"

She laughs again.

"Well, with the attractive man at least."

Then she gets serious for a moment.

"I thought you would have had a girl by now." I shrug.

"Didn't find the right one," I answer. "They weren't you." Woops. Didn't mean for that to slip out just yet.

"But you said. . .Before you left. . . " she gets out, surprised by what I said.

"And I believed it at the time, I swear to ya I did, but now . . . I dunno. They weren't you," I say again.

She stays quiet and I watch her eyes dart around my face and other things. She got up and I fear the worst before she straddles my waist and sits down.

"Good," she purrs as she leans down and kisses me. My eyes go wide for a moment. This definitely isn't the Hoshi I left behind. Then again, I also left behind a sober Hoshi who was still in uniform.

"Wow," was all I get out when she pulls back.

"Damn right, wow. I've been saving that since about 5 minutes after you left," she admits with a smile. "Starfleet did relax the fraternization rule," she whispers.

"They've been callin' all week," I admit.

"You should see what they want."

"They want me. I'm hot stuff," I say with a smile as I ran my hands over her hips.

"You're tellin' me," she said with a little smile and a laugh as she kisses me again. This time I was ready for it and things heated up quickly.

"Uh, maybe we should head home," I remembered how hard it is to get sand out of the neither regions.

"I dunno, I kinda like it here," she whispers. I groan in response.

"You can stay there as long as you like as long as I'm layin' on a bed," I bargain. She gets up and I follow.

"Come on," she giggles. "I'll rouge my knees and wear my stockings down."

"And all that jazz?"

"And ALL that jazz," she repeats as she grabs my hand and pulls me along.